Taking AIM at Small Caps

By

Clara Furse

Updated Jan. 30, 2007 12:01 a.m. ET

In the last 12 months, the U.S. capital markets have started to take a serious interest in AIM, the London Stock Exchange's market for smaller, growing companies. Despite being in its 12th year of operation, the timing of this awakening in the Alternative Investment Market is not surprising. Companies on or joining AIM have been raising record amounts of capital to help fund their growth -- $28.9 billion in 2006. If AIM were an exchange in its own right, it would rank sixth in the world by money raised last year.